Fly of the Month: The Goldilocks Stonefly

As we all know, winter is here. To me, it sure doesn’t feel like it. There’s no snow at all. But since its winter, it’s time to go to the winter flies. When someone says winter flies, I typically think big stoneflies, or little midges. Here I’m going to show you a pattern I developed. The Goldilocks Stonefly is a golden stonefly representation. Keep in mind, this isn’t just a winter fly, it can be used year round, but it is a super effective fly in the winter. It incorporates some great realistic and attractive aspects. For example, the use of rubber legs and Australian Possum give the fly superior movement. Typically you want stones to be super heavy. I use a tungsten bead on this fly, along with a great deal of lead (or lead free) wire. This is due to the fact that the abdomen, legs, and thorax is all natural material. As some of you may or may not know some natural furs, like hare’s ear and possum, will decrease the sink rate of a fly. That’s why we balance the fly out with the extreme weighting. Like I said before, the rubber legs (used for tails and antennae) will give the fly great movement, and the fly will breathe great with all the natural materials. The back will give the fly a little contrast and flash, and the thick rib gives a distinct ribbing. The hook I love to use is a Skalka Streamer hook. This hook is super strong, and has a ridiculous point. So first, let’s look at the exact recipe:

Step 1: Wrap about 30 wraps of your lead wire on the shank of the hook after you put on your tungsten bead. Don’t slide either all the way up to the eye, because there is something that needs to be done first. Attach a 70 denier thread to the eye. Go back a maximum of 3 wraps.

Step 2: Catch in your rubber leg material. Fold it over so you have 2 antennae. Whip finish your thread, put on a little glue, and slide your thread on wire all the way up to the eye.

Step 3: Start your thread just behind the lead. Wrap down to the back and tie in your tails just like you did your antennae.

Step 4: Take some smooth jawed pliers and flatten your whole body. It doesn’t have to be perfect, it is just to get a little bit better profile.

Step 5: Catch in your wire and abdomen cover and firmly tie them down. Tie down the cover squarely on top, and the wire on the side.

Step 6: Start to dub your abdomen. You want to be sure to stop at the 50% mark or just shy of it.*Note* to make the dubbing, take about 70% Australian Possum and 30% bright yellow angora goat and mix them together between your fingers. This will create this awesome dubbing.

Step 7: Pull your mylar over and tie it down firmly. Trim the excess.

Step 8: Rib the abdomen with the wire. Be sure to really sink the rib into the body. This will add great segmentation and durability to the fly. Tie off the wire and wiggle to break off the excess.

Step 9: Tie in your 2 pieces of wide mylar side by side. They can overlap ½-1 mm or so, but you want the thorax cover to be a bit thicker than the abdomen cover. Be sure to tie it in square over the top, as not to be frustrated later once you realize it’s off to one side or the other.

Step 10: Twist your thread so it relaxes and becomes flat. Place a needle through the middle and place your dubbing in the split. Then retwist your thread to tighten around dubbing. This is called the Split-Thread Dubbing Technique.

Step 11: Wrap your dubbing a little bit more than the 1/3 point of the thorax.

Step 12: Fold over both strands of mylar and tie them down, the fold them back. Tie them down again once they are folded back. You are preparing them to be folded over the dubbed thorax section, again. You are going to do this whole process 2 more times. Each time making each thorax region a little bit smaller.

Step 13: Whip finish your thread 2 times and clip off your thread. You may add a head cement like material if you wish. I typically do, it can’t really hurt. The next couple views are of the almost completed fly. All that is required now is some “touching up.”

Step 14: Looking at the bottom of the fly. Use Velcro to coax all the fibers to the left and right side. Then trim the bottom as flat as possible. This will help achieve the flat profile of a stonefly. The next couple photos show this.

Step 15: Take your two sharpies and darken and mottle the top of the fly. Here is typically how I color my fly. Obviously each fly won’t be the same, but I do use a sort of pattern. As you tie this fly you will find certain things you want to change and/or modify. There are many possibilities!

Hope you guys tie some up and there are effective for you! Thanks and tight lines,